Trading activity has been rather quiet in Southeast Asia’s import billet market lately with sporadic deals being heard only for ex-Iran billets, the prices of which have been among the most competitive in Asia recently.
A deal for 35,000 mt of ex-Iran billet has been done at $447/mt CFR to Indonesia this week. This is in line with offers heard a week ago for this origin and is among the lowest prices in the market at the moment.
The market participants have been actively watching developments in China after the decline in futures prices seen in the first half of the week. Even though today, March 20, rebar futures are up by 0.22 percent, the general mood has failed to improve. Offers for 3SP billet from China have been confirmed at $450-455/mt CFR to Thailand and Indonesia, while 5SP billet to these destinations has been available at $452-457/mt CFR depending on the trader.
In the Philippines, most Chinese billet offers for 3SP have been at $455/mt CFR, while for the more popular 5SP billet Chinese offers have been at $460-461/mt CFR Manila. “There is not much happening with Chinese billet in Southeast Asia, as buyers’ target prices are $5-10/mt lower than offers,” a Singapore-based source said. “Business is not good for anybody. So, it is simply a waiting game to see who will give way first,” a Manila-based source said.
There are no attractive prices for ex-Russia billet at the moment as the major Russian mill in the Far East already sold the major part of its June shipment allocation earlier in March at $448-450/mt CFR Taiwan.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import 3SP and 5SP billet has remained stable from last week at $450-455/mt CFR, as it excludes sanctioned material from Iran or Russia.